‘Walking through flooded Grantham pedestrian tunnel ruins your shoes’

A pedestrian frustrated by her complaints about a flood-prone tunnel falling on deaf ears is calling for action to be taken.

The woman, who asked not to be named, took this photo of the waterlogged pedestrian tunnel which connects Huntingtower Road and Station Road. She has reported the problem several times to Network Rail - to no avail.

She said: “A year ago it was regularly flooded and I spoke to the Station Master who advised me that he is using this underpass regularly and has been complaining about it with no avail.

“I then contacted the Network Rail and they advised me that they would fix the drainage system as a short-term fix and would commence a bi-annual cleaning of the drainage. It seemed to have solved this problem for a few months but as you will see on the photos, the underpass is yet again flooded.

“I wrote to the Network Rail and advised them of this problem and hope that it will be sorted. The silly thing is that the drainage will not really sort the problem as the drains are not located at the lowest point, which leaves a puddle in the middle that cannot be drained.”

The pedestrian tunnel is heavily used, by commuters, shoppers and schoolchildren. But when it rains, the puddle becomes too deep to pass through on foot.

The complainant said: “I went to use the underpass on Sunday morning and there was a crowd of people in front of me who decided to turn around when they saw that it was flooded; me as well. I went there in the afternoon to take a few photos and the only people who passed through it were cyclists.

“This underpass is not supposed to be used by cyclists at all but in this state it cannot be used by anybody who do not want to ruin their shoes.”

A spokesman for Network Rail said: “We carried out clearance work to the drain around November 2012. The drain has been cleared as far as the third party drain which we believe may belong to the local authority. We are liaising with them seeking a way to resolve the issues here.

“The recent heavy rain following many weeks of dry weather overwhelmed the drain capability. We are looking to install an improved drainage system at the site.”

Other work carried out in the tunnel as a result of calls from the public includes the removal of offensive graffiti and a scheme to replace lights with vandal-proof fixtures. This was at a cost of £35,000. However, vandals are continuing to spray them with black paint.